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Saturday, 30 June 2012

LynneBobSquarePants border advice needed.

So finally after designing my LynneBobSquarePants block well over a year ago, I have got around to piecing together the 25 LBSPs to make the start of a quilt top. Thank you to my bee members in VIBees and Stash Trad Bee for these wonderful blocks, full of all sorts of beautiful scraps from their stashes. If you would like to make a LBSP quilt or block of you own, the tutorial can be found here.

This quilt top comes to 60" square which is slightly smaller than I like my quilts and looks unfinished to me. So I'm thinking of what kind of border treatment to add to it and am currently liking this look (drawn up on Touchdraw for iPad) but would love some alternative ideas because I know you lot always have a trillion and one amazing ideas.

Yup, I agree with Helen, the background colour plain to frame it (is it black or very dark blue?) and then maybe a row all around of the tiny centre squares (of the 4 hst's in colour) on point (or those even smaller even) ? Then bind in the black again. The plain border around the existing quilt is absolutely perfect for a FMQ pattern with coloured thread (like King Tut Rainbow e.g. or non gradating but change colour in sections).Or come to think of it, binding in cerise would be smashing too.

Ah, just reading Lizzies comment. I was working on the idea of adding to what you have got sewn now. Hadn't looked at the computer mock up yet. If you are adding a bit more to get the little squares on point in, like in the mock up, then the border with the quilitng etc would not work so well. In that case I agree, make the border nice and wide and same colour binding so the centre design stands out. Also in that case the quilting should be more geometrical and less standing out. Totally different type of quilt if you add the last row of triangles...

I would go with what you drew in Touchpad, personally. Makes the block design more dominant, to my eye, which is what the quilt is about, no? I do think the solid dark border could be wider; feels a little out-of-proportion to me. (sorry!) My €2, for what *that's* worth. :-)Hazle

I was looking at the photo of the quilt thinking that those little half square triangles needed to be mirrored and carried out into a border the same colour as your sashing. Then I scrolled down, rofl. Great minds...!

Oh, it's magnificent! I think I'd do what you've designed in TD and then have another look to see if it needs (and can take) another border - maybe a narrow border of something to frame the inner section and then a scrappy border? Scrappy (half and half) flying geese could be good. You could always consider making the geese in the background fabric and the sky scrappy? (Not sure what the latter option would look like and I think it would need another very narrow border to make it work but I thought I'd throw in my penn'orth!)

When I read the pre-blog post, you know just the first few sentences, and seen the picture. I thought of how to do a border to make it look finished, then when I came to the whole blog to post what I saw in my head, my border is on the black and red quilt!!! That is how I would do it.give it a black border and finish out the little squares in the border. Looks finished now.

When I look at the quilt I see a black zig zag moving around the outer edge...what if you finished it off instead of the squares? I think extending the little triangles into your border as triangles would do it. The effect might me a touch more zingy than what you have.

I would just do what you have drawn up. It's simple and effective and doesn't draw away from the design of the quilt. But I'm not a huge border fan myself. your option is nice because it gives the design a little room to breath.

I like the black in your Touchdraw too. to me, it "calms down" the busy-ness of the scrappy blocks.

However, if you want a punch of color in the border, here is my suggestion. Others have suggested similar ideas. So, from the inside out: an inner border of solid black, then a fairly thin (maybe 1"/2.5cm finished?) middle border of scrappy pieces using the same fabric as your blocks, pieced together then cut into strips, then an outer border in solid black. That would frame the piecing nicely and continue the theme.

You might have to experiment with the proportions of the 3 borders (on Touchdraw) to discover what pleases your eye.

Loooove your quilt top...it's gorgeous! I think your Touchdraw is perfect! I guess if you want to make it a littler bigger you could always add another scrappy square pieced border after the Toudraw and then finish it with more black....that would make it a lot bigger.